EDT - a New Approach

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I have been reading about the issues people have regarding EDT and fat loss. After starting the program I, too, had certain issues. I think I solved all of them. For those of you who need reminding, the program was a combination of EDT and CPT. The program was performed three times a week and was comprised of one ?core? exercise and a circuit. The routine was divided into 4 PR zones. The first PR zone was for strength. After performing 4-6 sets of the core exercise, 15 minutes of singles were performed. Following this were three more PR zones, all 15 minutes each.

The issues I had were the following. My strength was getting better but I didn?t like the idea of doing max singles. I couldn?t always find a spotter and I was a tad bit concerned with injury. Another problem I had with this program was that by the 4th PR zone I was pretty much wiped out and found myself not really looking forward to the next workout. I was spending about 1.5 hours in the gym. Also, people kept interrupting me during my EDT zones. So being a fan of Ian King, Charles Staley, Charles Poliquin, and Chad Waterbury, I came up with a different approach to EDT fat loss.

This program addresses strength by adhering to a 5x5 protocol. It works agonists and antagonists together to shorten training time and help recovery. It pairs vertical pulling with vertical pushing and horizontal pulling with horizontal pushing to minimize weaknesses. It has one pair of exercises performed in EDT fashion. The EDT portion has exercises that won?t produce problems regarding equipment availability. Most of all it is short and will enable you to train more frequently. It leaves you feeling refreshed and itching to get back into the gym.

Here it is.

Day 1 - Horizontal Push / Horizontal Pull

Strength zone
A1) Bench Press (5x5)
A2) Bent Over Rowing or Seated Cable Rowing (5x5)
Notes: 60 second rest between antagonistic supersets; hand spacing on rows the same as on bench presses.

EDT PR zone (15 minutes)

  1. Flyes (flat or incline)
  2. Bent over laterals
    Notes: Flyes serve as an isolation movement for the chest to enhance the bench pressing; the bentover laterals serve as an isolation movement for the back to enhance the rowing. Follow the EDT protocol. Because you are using dumbbells, equipment availability won?t be much of a problem when doing EDT. You won?t have to worry about losing your spot jumping from one exercise to the other.

Day 2 ? Arms

Strength zone
A1) Barbell Preacher Curl or Barbell Curl (5x5)
A2) Dips or Decline Close Grip Bench Press (5x5)
Notes: 60 second rest between antagonistic supersets.

EDT PR zone (15 minutes)

  1. Seated Dumbbell Curls
  2. Seated French Press with EZ Curl Bar (over head extensions)
    Notes: Follow the EDT protocol. Because you are using dumbbells, one bench, and an EZ curl bar, equipment availability won?t be much of a problem when doing EDT. You won?t have to worry about losing your spot jumping from one exercise to the other.

Day 3 ? Legs

Strength zone
A1) Squats (5x5)
A2) Romanian Deadlift or Good Morning (5x5)
Notes: 60 second rest between antagonistic supersets.

EDT PR zone (15 minutes)

  1. Leg Extensions
  2. Leg Curls
    Notes: Leg extensions serve as an isolation exercise for the quads and leg curls serve as an isolation exercise for the hams. These two pieces of equipment are usually right next to each other in the gym. Follow the EDT protocol.

Day 4 - Vertical Push / Vertical Pull

Strength zone
A1) Pullups (5x5)
A2) Barbell Military Press or Dumbbell Press (5x5)
Notes: 60 second rest between antagonistic supersets; hand spacing on barbell press the same as on pullups.

EDT PR zone (15 minutes)

  1. EZ bar Pullovers or dumbbell pullovers
  2. Laterals
    Notes: Pullovers serve as an isolation movement for the lats to enhance the pullups; the laterals serve as an isolation movement for the shoulders to enhance the pressing. Follow the EDT protocol. Setup involves dumbbells, EZ curl bar and one bench. This should minimize interruptions.

Day 5 ? Rest

Day 6 - 9 repeat Day 1 through Day 4

That?s it. Where to put calves and Abs you say?. I would say to start off every workout with 3 sets of ab work (different exercises ? lower abs, upper abs, rotators, obliques, etc.) as a warm up. You can throw in calves (done conventionally) in with the arms.

If you want to do calves in EDT fashion I would recommend the following 15 minute zone:

  1. Standing Calf Raise
  2. Seated Calf Raise

Take it from me, this workout is both challenging and fun. You feel refreshed at the end. Let me know what you think.

Reumar69

2

I dig new workouts, and have been considering doing an EDT only program(I’ve incorporated a couple of Arm sessions into my current workout) but I have a question about this one.

How do you vary the load for the first core exercises without affecting your EDT portion of the training. I mean on the first day, for example, you do 5x5’s of bench and then rows, followed by a PR of flyes and then lateral rows. Won’t the fatigue from the first exercises vary from week to week as you increase load? And wouldn’t this affect your ability to do more reps in the PR workouts? Not busting your chops cause I haven’t tried it, but let me know if this has been a problem.

3

And you say that this is a good format for fat loss? Does this use the EDT and CPT format?

4

R69, I think this looks pretty good with one exception. With my particular style, I do my benches with a 14" grip. So, following up ‘Chest/Back’ day with arm day that specifies a close-grip bench, that would be over-work, for me. Even dips the day after may stress the tris. Don’t get me wrong, as Chad W says, I sometimes go extreme volume in a week to vary the adaptation stressors but just on the surface, this segment could change.

5

I also found the problem you have, i felt totally exhausted after the very first workout…but for me, it’s ok to do some “singles”, because i’ll do it in a power rack. only not all the exercises can do in a power rack…some exercise you still need spotters to make it save.

i think 3 PR zones for the “circuit” part is too much…unless you have excellent endurance…otherwise i’ll suggest cut down to 2 PR zones after your 1st PR zone for core exercise.

6

[quote]Monster Wong wrote:
I also found the problem you have, i felt totally exhausted after the very first workout…but for me, it’s ok to do some “singles”, because i’ll do it in a power rack. only not all the exercises can do in a power rack…some exercise you still need spotters to make it save.

i think 3 PR zones for the “circuit” part is too much…unless you have excellent endurance…otherwise i’ll suggest cut down to 2 PR zones after your 1st PR zone for core exercise.[/quote]

It?s your diet stupid!

7

reubmar69 reread the article you mentioned because obviously you don?t understand the concepts behind the program.

Your low energy levels probably has little to do with the training instead it has to do with your recovery abilities i.e. proper nutritional program, no sleep dept (getting plenty of sleep), using recovery technique such as contrast shower (alternating between cold/hot water), contrasting temperatures (sauna 5min/steam room 5min).
My point before you put impugn on the program look instead to your lifestyle.